News

Shark sightings on the rise?

Tuesday, August 6, 2013, 11:58 AM -

Call it the summer of the shark. 

The underwater predators are making a big splash on popular shows like "Sharknado" and Discovery Channel's "Shark Week." 

But it turns out those Hammerheads and Great Whites aren't just invading your TV screen. Shark sightings are on the rise in the real world too.

Recently, researchers have noticed an increase in Great White sharks off of Cape Cod, not far from the original location for the movie "Jaws."

The non-profit group OCEARCH started tagging and tracking them to find out why. However, the worldwide shark population is actually at an all time low.

Experts say the close encounters are due to humans spending more time in the water and moving closer to habitats long occupied by sharks.

"When you have more people out there looking, or more people on or above the water and when you have more eyeballs out there, you're going to get more shark sightings. If anything we're encroaching on sharks habitat more so than otherwise," says marine scientist Greg Skomal with Massachusetts Marine Fisheries. 

And before you develop a case of Shark-o-chondria, just know it is extremely rare to be attacked by a shark. 

"Shark attacks are so rare that it's not something in terms of probability that we worry about. However it doesn't take many shark attacks to get people to think about it and nobody likes to think of something in the water that can bite you," Skormal adds.